DMCI Holdings Inc. expects its net income to surge by as much as 50 percent to P6 billion to P7 billion this year from the P4.68 billion posted in 2009 on the back of increasing contributions from its water, construction, property and coal and power businesses.

At the sidelines of the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting, DMCI president Isidro Consunji said coal and power unit Semirara Mining Corporation will contribute P1.8 billion to holding firm’s earnings.

Meanwhile, Maynilad Water Services Inc. will contribute P2 billion to DMCI’s bottomline, the firm’s construction business will add P1 billion, while its property development unit DMCI Homes will add P1.3 billion.

Meanwhile, Consunji said the company plans to build a new 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant beside its recently-acquired 600-megawatt Calaca power station which it currently rehabilitating.

He said the new power plant will cost about $750 million and the company is looking for partners for the project, which is expected to start next year.

Consunji said that among those who have expressed interest in the project are power distributor Manila Electric Company and Marubeni Corporation of Japan who area already DMCI's partners in various construction projects.

Meralco said earlier that it also plans to put up a power plant and stock analysts note that it will make sense for Semirara and Meralco to team up as it will create a lot of syngergies while ensuring that there will be a buyer for the plant’s output.

Semirara has just raised P4.39 billion from a stock rights offering which will finance the acquisition cost of the two 300 megawatt Batangas coal-fired thermal power plant, including its ancillary facilities, located in Calaca, Batangas.

Consunji said they expects to spend $60 million, down from the original budget of $120 million for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the two Calaca plants to bring back capacity to 550 megawatts from the current output of 340 megawatts.

Because of poor maintenance before they were privatized, the Calaca plants produced only 365 megawatts in 2008 and operated for 3,679 and 2,536 hours, respectively, instead of the normal 7,000 hours each.

Semirara added that part of the proceeds of the offer will also be used to repay debt obligations, fund capital expenditures, and general corporate purposes.

SEM-Calaca Power has executed a P9.6 billion project debt facility for the acquisition of the Calaca coal-fired power plants.